Category: Criminal Injustice

It’s June and we are in the midst not just of an ongoing epidemic that continues to threaten the lives of many of our community members but also of a national moment of reflection and action over white supremacy and police violence on Black, indigenous and people of color upon which this country is founded. We are heartbroken by ongoing assaults and murders of Black people at the hands of the agents of the State as well as by the society that is too quick to rely on them, yet encouraged by the outpouring of empathy and outrage in response to the tragedies.

We at Aileen’s stand in solidarity with the family and friends of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Aubrey, Charleena Lyles, and countless other Black men and women who have been brutalized and murdered by our white supremacist institutions, and with the movement for Black lives in calling not just for the arrest and prosecution of individual officers involved, but for systemic changes. If you have not already, please follow and support Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County (facebook, twitter).

For our neighbors in Federal Way (where Aileen’s is located) and nearby areas, follow Federal Way Black Collective, who is holding a Juneteenth screening of the award-winning documentary film “13th,” which traces the genealogy of over-policing of Black communities, mass incarceration, and prison industrial complex to American chattel slavery. They are also looking for volunteers who can help out with their food distribution that they are starting next week Friday.

June is also the LGBTQ Pride month. It is hard to feel like celebrating anything right now, but we are proud of the legacy of queer and trans women of color and others who have risen up against racialized police violence in June 1969 as the police raided Stonewall Inn and ever since, and we commit to carrying on their quest for equality and justice within our organization, our region, and in the larger society.

Here’s the update from Aileen’s for June: we will continue to provide food, clothes, supplies, and other stuff twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) at our location in Federal Way (contact if you need more detail) as we did for the last couple of months. HOWEVER, in the last two months we were donate pre-packaged meals to distribute (150 meals each day we were out there), but that supply of food has ended at the end of May. That means we have to buy food and prepare them so that we can continue to feed people in need at our van location, which will be a lot more expensive and time-consuming that it had been before, but we can’t stop feeding people in the time of crisis.

So as always we appreciate your continued support of Aileen’s—use GoFundMe (one-time) or Patreon (monthly contributions) to donate online, or contact us if you need donation receipts for tax purposes (we need to process tax deductible donations differently). We also need donations of food and supplies—please see our updated wishlist for what we need at our giveaway van location.

We have a great news. The peer leader/volunteer who has been involved with Aileen’s was released from jail on her own recognizance this afternoon. This was the outcome that we had hoped for and we got it. We will continue to work with her to address other concerns the judge told her to take care of before her next appearance in July, and either get the charge dropped or help her show up so this won’t happen again.

Thank you so much to many of you who donated toward her bail. It turned out that the bail was not needed, but we were prepared to bail her out today if it was needed (we were determined to bring her back with us one way or another).

If you wish to have your contribution refunded to you, please let me know before Friday; otherwise, we will spend some of that money to address her other needs so she can avoid going back to jail, and reserve the rest for the next time one of our peers need help with the bail and court-related expenses.

Again, thank you for supporting us and our women! Please continue to contribute toward our general GoFundMe page instead of the bail fund.

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Original post follows:

One of the peer leaders/volunteers who have been helping Aileen’s during our start-up phase is in jail since Wednesday. This amazing Black woman is held on a $2,500 bail for a two-year old prostitution charge. Her new court appearance isn’t until the 26th which is more than two weeks away and we want to help her get out sooner. Like right now.

Please contribute toward our jail support/bail fund so she can get toiletries and other necessities while in jail, make phone calls to family and friends, and get out!

Any money left over after assisting her will be reserved for providing jail support and bail for our peers in the future.

(We do still need help with our general expenses so keep that coming too, but right now this woman’s freedom is much more urgent.)